The distinction between a vision and a dream is no small one... A drea — Oneirology

"What, then... is scientific oneirology and what is the value of dreams in psychotherapeutics? The answers to these questions are not difficult. Oneirology, strictly speaking, is the study of dreams, not the interpretation of dreams. The interpretation of dreams, as practised by psycho-analysts, is not a science but the application of a mystical theory derived from the superstitious notions that dreams were symbolic prophesies, or that through dreams the gods communed with mortals, or that dreams were due to the agency of good and bad demons, etc."

"According to his nephew... Melville was a believer in Oneirology, and expert in the interpretation of dreams. Some of the examples adduced in proof of this, however, would rather incline us to think that he amused himself by a playful exercise of ingenuity instead of pretending to skill in this occult science."

"It is to thee, my dear Peter, that I dedicate this my untimely offspring, as I know thy good-nature will dispose thee to cherish the gift, and to pardon in thy friend the imbecility of a first attempt.—With regard to the success of the little adventurer, I can have no doubt: it will be most hospitably entertained by every liberal mind, which, as thy friend Pope saith, shall stoop to read it with the same spirit as its author writ.—But more, Peter—thou knowest me to be somewhat skilled in Oneirology: So, last night, after my usual allowance of reested haddock, I retired to rest, when, as it waxed towards morning, , our great patron, with all his proper insignia and bearings, stood at my bed-side, and tapping me gently on the cheek, "Son," said he, "Go on! and whatever Homer and Hippocrates were in their day, be thou also in thine." And while the emanations of glory shed an irresistible effulgence over his celestial visage, he took from his divine lyre a wreath of bays, and, with a smile of the most benign complacency, bound it around my temples—when, lo, as I made an effort at prostration, in token of my unworthiness, my nose came into violent contact with the bed-post, and I suddenly awoke from this my celestial reverie..."

"No educated person would attempt to deny the value of the discoveries of Freud and his school. ...[T]he theory is that dreams are the revenge taken by instincts which have been stifled by the social environment. ...a kind of consolation prizes. ...[T]he compensation which Nature awards to... repressed ambitions and desires. I cannot accept this view as... complete... Many dreams are a repetition of experience with which the dreamer has been satisfied in his waking life. They are a kind of Da Capo, a cry of Encore! The new school of oneirology appear to interpret all dreams in terms of hunger. No doubt repressed desires and thwarted ambitions do raise angry and uneasy heads... Often, however, fair scenes of the past come before us in sleep as tranquilly as they usher themselves into our memory. Many dreams are like the revivals of old plays."

"Oneirology ( ὂνειρος, "dream", + -λογος, "science") : Ger. Oneirologie; Fr. (1) onirologie, (2) oniromancia; Ital. onirologia. (1) The science of Dreams (q.v.) and (2) of their interpretation."

"Dreams are considered to be according to our complexion and temperament, , Choleric, Melancholic, and Phlegmatic."